Here we go again: 1,500 job cuts at Liverpool City Council

In a scenario that is likely to be repeated all across Great Britain, the Liverpool City Council reported that it will eliminate 1,500 jobs over the next two years due to the government’s spending cuts.

The council is required to reduce staff by the end of March 2013 and noted that compulsory firings would be necessary in order to generate 141-million pounds sterling in savings by that time. Of that total, 91-million pounds in savings will be mandated in the current fiscal year.

Earlier this month, Manchester City Council said it would cut 2,000 jobs. According to press reports, about 24,000 council jobs are at risk to go across the northwest.

Liverpool Council leader Joe Anderson apologized for the job cuts but explained they are necessary because the government has reduced funding to the council by about 22 percent.

I have never had to make such a difficult and heartbreaking decision, and I know everyone working on the budget feels the same, Anderson said.

I am acutely aware just how worrying the current situation is for all staff. I am sorry I can't offer you any more reassurance at this stage.

The Council currently employs a total of about 9,000 people.

Services to be reduced will include services for the young, the elderly and the disabled, as well as libraries and leisure centers.

Ever since the government announced the scale of the cuts Liverpool was facing, we have known it was going to be the beginning of a number of traumatic years for the city council, Councillor Paul Brant, deputy leader of the council told BBC.

The way in which the government has divided up the cuts means cities like Liverpool... are facing a disproportionate share of the burden. In my view that is deeply unfair.

Brant further warned there is no doubt the cuts we are making are going to affect people's lives in the city.

Defending the cuts, a spokesman from the Department for Communities and Local Government spokesman said: The government has delivered a tough but fair settlement ensuring the most vulnerable communities were protected.”

Union bosses are incensed by the job cuts.

These 1,500 job losses announced by Liverpool City Council bring the number in the GMB [trade union] list to 145,842 in 212 councils and authorities,” said GMB general secretary Paul Kenny.

The UK government is cutting hundreds of thousands of jobs in the public sector but they are trying to do it in the dark.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, the public service trade union, said These cuts are more bad news for people in Liverpool. It is a disgrace that the workforce had to find out about the sheer scale of the cuts over the radio.